The present invention relates to a structure for mounting a fusible link in a cavity. Moreover, the invention relates to an electrical junction box employing this structure.
As an electrical appliance to be mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile, an electrical junction box, for example, is exemplified. The electrical junction box is known as a name for generally calling a relay box, a fuse box, a junction block, an electronic control unit box, and so on.
An art related to the electrical junction box is disclosed in the below mentioned Patent Reference 1. According to this disclosed art, it is possible to achieve reduction in size of the electrical junction box in a direction where the fusible link is arranged. The prior art will be briefly described hereunder.
In FIGS. 11A and 11B, reference numeral 101 represents a fusible link having a monopole structure, while reference numeral 102 represents a fuse box in which four pieces of the fusible links 101 can be mounted. The fuse box 102 has four cavities 103 for mounting the four fusible links 101. The four cavities 103 are so formed as to be continued without a partition wall. A pair of terminals 104 in a shape of a tab are projected from a bottom of each of the cavities 103 so that electrical connection may be established, when the fusible links 101 are mounted. Because the partition wall is not provided in the fuse box 102, as described above, a pitch P1 in the arranging direction of the fusible links 101 is equal to a width H1 of a fuse housing for the fusible links 101.
In FIGS. 12A and 12B, a fuse box 105 is so formed that four pieces of the fusible links 101 can be mounted therein. Cavities 106 are partitioned with partition walls 107. A pair of terminals 104 in a shape of a tab are projected from a bottom of each of the cavities 106 so that electrical connection may be established, when the fusible links 101 are mounted. Because the fuse box 105 has the partition walls 107, a pitch P2 in the arranging direction of the fusible links 101 is equal to a sum of the width H1 of the fuse housing and a thickness H2 of the partition wall 107.
In the above described structure, by employing the arrangement as shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B, it is advantageously possible to achieve reduction of the size in the arranging direction of the fusible links 101. Moreover, the reduction in size leads to such advantage that the fuse box can be made compact.